Poker champ Brit is facing murder rap

Poker champ Brit is facing murder rap

He has not yet been required to enter a plea but will probably be required to do so soon after the prelim is completed

Colorado District Attorney Martin Beeson

Marcus Bebb-Jones, 48, is alleged to have killed Vietnam- born Sabrina more than 14 years ago in Colorado where they ran a hotel.

Court documents claim he then fled to Vegas where he blew a fortune in casinos, hired prostitutes and then shot himself in an apparent suicide bid.

Charges were not filed against the Kidderminster card king until 2008 after Sabrina’s remains were found on a remote mountain pass.

By then Bebb-Jones was back in Britain playing the professional poker circuit and winning hundreds of thousands of pounds.

He made £90,000 in a single competition in the Midlands.

He was arrested in 2009 by Scotland Yard’s Extradition Unit and last year was ordered back to the United States after losing a High Court appeal, which he fiercely contested.

After spending 12 months in jail, Bebb-Jones appeared at Garfield County Court in Colorado two weeks ago to hear the prosecution outline its case. He is due back in court on Thursday to learn whether he will face a murder trial.

Colorado District Attorney Martin Beeson told the Daily Star Sunday: “The purpose of a preliminary hearing is to demonstrate to the court that there is sufficient evidence to bind the case over for trial.

“Assuming the judge binds the case over for trial it must be held within 180 days of the defendant entering his plea.

“He has not yet been required to enter a plea but will probably be required to do so soon after the prelim is completed.”

According to court documents, on September 16, 1997, Bebb-Jones and wife Sabrina rowed about his flirting with guests staying at their Melrose Hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Bebb-Jones is then alleged to have told investigators the couple went off to the nearby Dinosaur National Monument but had another argument and she fled.

She was reported missing by a hotel worker two days later.

By then Bebb-Jones had headed to Las Vegas with his three-year- old son.

Prosecutors claim he lived the high life in the party city, booking into various hotels, borrowing money at casinos and putting more than £3,500 on his credit card in a matter of days.

He is alleged to have told a friend he had rented a Ferrari and hired prostitutes as he wanted to “go out in style”.

The prosecution claim that at the end of his bender he booked himself another hotel, put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger but survived.

His son was found by a cleaner crying in another room.

Police searched Bebb-Jones’ van and allegedly found his wife’s blood. But the Brit was allowed to return to the Midlands with his son in 1998.

In October 2004 a man herding cattle found her remains. There were skull fractures believed to have occurred before her death.

US prosecutors have told the British authorities if Bebb-Jones is found guilty of murder he will not face execution – even though the state of Colorado still carries the death penalty.